By looking at these pictures, you probably can’t tell that an old, two-story, under-performing industrial building was converted into a beautiful modern suite of office spaces. The Koll Company hired LPA Inc. to transform the old facility and transform they did! (You can see a before photo below.) The LEED Silver building, now referred to as the Koll Airport Professional Center for its location near John Wayne Airport in Orange County, California, is a fine example of adaptive reuse with new green elements:

This is the Yannell Residence in Chicago, Illinois, a home that was designed and built as an exercise in net zero energy living — it produces at least as much energy as it uses over the course of a year. It received LEED Platinum certification in July 2009, and has been on a roll getting media attention all over the place. Some say it’s one of the greenest houses ever built, but one thing is for sure: it has a ton of interesting green elements.

Hocking College — a two-year technical college in Nelsonville, Ohio — has trained its students for jobs in Ohio's manufacturing sector since 1968. As these jobs began leaving the state, Hocking College saw the potential for growth in alternative energy jobs. The school launched the Energy Institute in 2002, with just three students to offer training in advanced energy and fuel cells. Enrollment has since increased to 125 students and the curriculum has also expanded to include hybrid and plug-in vehicle courses, as well as courses about wind and solar power.

The school's newly completed building, located in Hocking County, reflects Hocking College's commitment to participating in the new green economy. The 12,200 square-foot building is on track to become the first higher education building in Ohio to receive LEED Platinum certification.

Scottsdale, Arizona is one of a growing number of American cities that have inserted LEED into their building code. Scottsdale set the bar quite high with a LEED Gold requirement, but that wasn't going to limit these architects. When father-and-son architects Lawrence and Lance Enyart of LEA Architects were chosen in 2005 to design the 14,350 square-foot firehouse, they decided to shoot for LEED Platinum. Lance Enyart said, "Gold was the mandate, but for us it wasn't about points that we could achieve, it was about implementing strategies that were project appropriate."

This summer Gerding Edlen Development opened a 51-unit apartment building in Portland, Oregon called The 20 on Hawthorne. The 20 is over 50% leased already and LEED Silver certification is pending. Homes range in price from $900-$2,500 and in size from 502 to 968 square feet. Perhaps more interestingly, though, this building has a stackable, automated parking system that fetches cars in about 30-40 seconds on average. It's pretty cool to watch.

A few months after receiving LEED Platinum in Georgia, New World Home has now received Platinum certification for this home in Youngsville, New York. It's the first manufactured home in New York to receive the certification and the first home of any type in the state to receive the same level of certification without needing solar panels, wind turbines, or a geothermal system. Like the Georgia home, this one accomplishes the task with non-exotic things like tight construction, efficient mechanicals, and green materials.